Tuesday, November 10, 2009

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY TO SESAME STREET

Wow! It’s hard to believe that Sesame Street turns forty years old today. As part of the original target audience in the early 70's, I never missed watching Sesame Street. The show really clicked with my preschool era brain and jump started my learning and creativity.

I loved all the characters, but Cookie Monster was my favorite. I just snapped this photo today of one my favorite and earliest toys.

It’s Cookie Monster from the Sesame Street Muppet Puppet toy line as seen in the 1974 Sears Wishbook.

Everywhere I went, I carried Cookie Monster and I was always making him eat everything and anything. I’m surprised that he doesn’t have play-doh stains in his mouth. The orange chair that CM is sitting on was my chair of choice for all my TV watching as a kid. I would sit in that chair with my Cookie Monster Muppet Puppet and act along with the latest Sesame Street episode.

Great post. I had the Bert puppet. I can't remember what happened to it though. By the way, that chair needs to go in the living room. I need to have some of those little NC vibes the next time I come down.

(1975? 76?) I had a Cookie Monster that eyes with beebees in them so they rattled when I shook him. (he probably came from a catalog) I left him on the playground one day and he was GONE when I went back! I was heartbroken until somebody returned him.

I started watching Sesame Street back in '69 at age 7 and I wished and wished that they would make a Cookie monster toy - I remember that so clearly, being very frustrated at them being behind with the marketing ;)

And by the time they DID make them, sounds like it was around '74, I was in 7th grade and the moment was past.

Did you ever watch "Zoom" which slightly pre-dated Sesame, I think (or they may have overlapped a little)?

Did Cookie Monster come with punch out cardboard cookies on his box, and a slot in the back of his throat so he could eat them?? Or am I imagining that?I had the Oscar the Grouch hand puppet of the same year. He had a pull ring that made his hands "clap" together and came in a cardboard box resembling his trash can. I played with him constantly till he developed a tear in the seam of his mouth, and it was all downhill from there.

Bubbashelby - Nice post and thanks for the link! I didn't know they made diff. versions of the CM puppet.

Mike - Thanks! If you ever find your Ernie puppet we can have a puppet show next time you visit. I don't think the first lady will let me keep the chair in our living room. I think its happy next to the old toys and comic books downstairs.

Brother Bill - Great, thanks for comment!

Kodama - That's a sad story. Glad he was returned to you!

mdeals - Me too!

Lidian - That's too bad. No I never had the chance to see Zoom. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it!

Kevin - I think you're right on!

I don't remember the box or the punch out cookies, but my CM does have a slot in his throat. That was half the fun acting like he was eating stuff. For me it was almost like a magic trick as I would amaze kids by having CM eat stuff like Hot Wheels, army men or whatever and catch the item with my hand inside not letting it fall out the bottom. Also, it was fun to make CM puke stuff out of his mouth too!

I remember the puppets vividly!! My aunt and uncle who never had any children of their own, kept them in a fully stocked toy box for us kids to play with whenever we'd visit.

They were perfect likenesses right down to the clothes. If Bert and Ernie were made from foam rubber rather than the durable plastic in which they were cast, they would have looked exactly like the real deal from PBS!!

I used to give my sister heck about her HUGE eyebrows back in the 70's. They weren't really huge but it was fun just to torture her. I used to call her "Bert" (from Sesame Street of course) because of his large, fuzzy unibrow. Anyhow, in the 80's I happened to find a plastic bert doll with a removeable eyebrow which I promptly gave her for christmas! Besides that...my favorite sesame street clip when I was a kid was "Lower Case N". I still still sing it!

Lower case NStanding on a hillthe wind is very stillfor the lower case N !!

I had one of the bigger puppets of Cookie Monster. When you're little it was like he was the full size real thing. Mine got a rip in a seam and the rest is history. These light blue plush things they push now are a travesty.